Research
Labs that are doing work related to diversity
Child Study Center
The Child Study Center (CSC) is a specialty research, service, and training facility devoted to the comprehensive assessment, treatment, prevention, and understanding of problems of childhood and adolescence.
Autism-Spectrum Disorder
Angela Scarpa, John Richey, and Tom Ollendick conduct research on autism-spectrum disorder (ASD), an example of neuro-diversity. Scarpa, as Director of the VT Center for Autism Research (VTCAR), is extending both outreach and research to rural Appalachia, addressing disparities in access to resources related to both social class and geographic location.
Girls Launch! Connects Female Scientists and Children through ICAT Funded Project
Girls Launch!, an IRB-approved project obtained by research assistant professor Vanessa Diaz, connects women researchers with kindergarten children, allowing the children to learn more about science through engaging hands-on activities. With a grant from the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT), this Center for Communicating Science and Department of Psychology project also allowed 10 graduate students to create kindergarten-friendly videos related to their research. During the second and third years, the project was expanded to an investigation of gender-based stereotypes.
Learn more about the Girls Launch! project.
Other Faculty Research
Craig and Sharon Ramey conduct research on early intervention for at-risk children, who are often challenged by poverty.
With Tom Ollendick and collaborators Emily Satterwhite (Appalachian Studies) and Katie Carmichael (English), Julie Dunsmore is extending her research on parental emotion socialization within racial/ethnic and cultural contexts to rural Appalachia.
Russell Jones’ research addresses racial disparities in mental health and treatment, specifically with regard to trauma. His work also touches on issues specific to veterans.
Kristin Peviani, a graduate student in our Developmental Science program, conducted her thesis on “Longitudinal Associations among Adolescent Socioeconomic Deprivation, Delay Discounting, and Substance Use” (Jungmeen Kim-Spoon, chair; Brooks King-Casas and Warren Bickel, committee members).
Jungmeen Kim-Spoon’s lab has collaborated with B2B and Multicultural Academic Opportunities Program (MAOP) in providing graduate student mentorship to underrepresented undergraduates over the past 2 summers. This has resulted in students presenting their research at the annual VT Undergraduate Symposium. Martha-Ann Bell’s lab has been involved in this partnership as well.
Neil Hauenstein and his lab are in the process of validating an instrument that measures racism and attitudes on White Privilege, and another on measuring sexism through an individual’s behavioral intentions.
Dr. Diaz’s research focuses on bilingual children’s language, cognitive, and socio-cognitive development, as well as their academic achievement.